tale a chance on me
by AGENT Kuma-chan
Summary: It was one thing for Sheena to fail class. It was another to have Zelos, of all people, tutor her. The guy who spent all of class flirting. The guy who never studied. Truly, there was no god.


**Title: **take a chance on me

**A/N:** For princerazzie, for the Tales SS! I like Zelos/Sheena a lot myself and went with a bit of an AU for them. Hope you like this!

**Summary:** _It was one thing for Sheena to fail class. It was another to have Zelos, of all people, tutor her. The guy who spent all of class flirting. The guy who never studied. Truly, there was no god._

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Sheena stared at her physics textbook, at the carefully labeled diagrams of triangles and circles and odd-sided shapes. It was confusing, sure, but it was a comfortable confusing. She knew where she stood with physics and that was on the border of failing or passing the class.

What was more uncertain, however, was the red-head smirking at her cheekily from across the table. There were many adjectives she could and _would_ use to describe him—lazy, flippant, skirt-chaser. Smart was never one of them and she wasn't sure what was worse, that he was tutoring her or that somehow, _somehow_, she was stupider than the guy who spent all of class flirting.

Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe the teacher had swapped their papers by accident. She glanced at the textbook once more and sighed internally. No, she was definitely failing the class. Unfortunately, that meant Zelos was actually useful for once and she didn't know what to make of that. He'd never shut up about it, that much she was certain. Every conversation carried forward would mark this day down. Considering that she'd known him since kindergarten and would probably, unfortunately, never stop knowing him, that was a lifetime of nose rubbing.

She had to make new friends.

Zelos's smirk grew wider as he caught her eye and shit, she'd been staring too long. "What's wrong, beautiful? Can't look away?"

Her ears went red. It was a small miracle this was after school and no one was in the classroom right now. Or maybe that wasn't such a good thing; it literally was just the two of them in a classroom, all alone. Sitting straight, she crossed her arms and scowled at him. "Of course not. I just…can't believe it. How do you have the highest marks in class?"

"Hey, I'm not just beauty, I'm brains too." Zelos winked. He curled an arm and patted his bicep. "Maybe not brawn yet, but brawny isn't nice to look at anyways."

"Ugghhhh," she groaned. This was the nitwit she chose as her first and, for some reason, best friend. This was the man she was going to know for the rest of her life. No, not the rest of her life; she was never going to make it that far. Maybe even as soon as today, she was going to murder him. She'd been making progress with her juniors, with the air-headed pair of Colette and Lloyd. She didn't need him anymore.

Maybe she could learn physics just to hide his body.

Stranger things have happened.

"Hey, don't groan so much." Zelos tapped on the book to get her attention again. "It's not my fault you're failing."

"I'm not failing," she snapped back, indignant. She crossed her arms defensively. "I'm just not passing."

"That's the same thing," he pointed out, his expression deadpan.

He had a point. She didn't want to admit. Sheena glared at him, before gesturing at the classroom windows. It was a surprisingly warm fall day, almost t-shirt weather, and she asked, "I thought you'd be out flirting or something on a day like this. Why're you even here?"

"And miss the chance for some alone time with you?" His tone was light, but his expression was serious. Sheena swallowed as he looked at her. "Never."

He was just flirting. It was like breathing to him. That's all there was to it and Sheena tried to remember her skyrocketing heart that this meant nothing to him and even if it did, she didn't care about it. She didn't. Not in the least. "S-sure," she managed, finally, her voice hitching slightly. "How many times have I heard that line before? You say it to everyone."

Zelos studied her for a moment. Did he see right through her? And what did that even mean, if he did? He broke into an easy smile and shrugged. "Caught me there."

Yep. That was to be expected. Sheena released the breath she didn't know she was holding. Pushing forward the textbook, she tapped on the first problem. "Explain. The sooner we get through this, the sooner we can leave."

"So gung-ho." Zelos chuckled, leaning closer to the textbook to read. His long hair brushed against her fingers and she resisted the urge to jump back. How had they done this when they were kids? She felt so much more self-conscious of him these days. He read the book, his lips mouthing the problem silently, and sat back. Cocking his head, he asked, "So…you don't get what, exactly?"

"Everything." Sheena rolled her eyes. She'd thought it was obvious. "The whole thing. All that stuff about volts and watts and circuits and the funny diagrams. None of it makes sense."

"I thought you were paying attention in class. You didn't even understand one thing." His brow furrowed and he shot her a pitying look. "I knew you were an idiot, but I underestimated how much."

She bit back a scream. Every conversation they had left her feeling like this: mildly annoyed and frustrated. "It's not like you're much smarter."

Zelos snorted derisively. "I am."

"Ok, fine, you're better in class, but you know what? Out there, in the streets? You wouldn't last a minute," Sheena growled, her hands curling on the desk. Her nails dug into the wood, as though she could transmit her irritation into the furniture.

Now Zelos looked at her sadly. Reaching out, he tenderly covered her hand, his touch light. "I'm also better there too, honey."

She yanked her hand away, her skin burning. His touch was seared onto her skin and she could still feel his fingers brushing against her wrist. Flushing a bright red, she leaned forward and yanked on his tie, forcing him to her eye level. "Just. Teach. Me. Already."

Now that she was this close to him, she could see that his eyes weren't quite as light blue as she thought. There were flecks of dark blue, a more haunting colour, and with his eyes as wide as they were now, they were impossible to miss. No, that wasn't why, it was because she was so damn close. She hadn't realized just how much she'd leaned forward. Their noses were almost bumping and she could feel his breath on her lips. There was a slight blush on his cheeks and she felt irrationally proud of that, of getting him to turn red instead of her for once.

But he was close, too close, and Sheena felt a familiar flush colour her face too. Her grip on his tie loosened and she swallowed. "I…"

His lips moved and she was aware of it, so keenly aware of it. "You…"

She had to back away. This was a danger zone, the area she didn't thread with him no matter how many years they knew each other. No, maybe it was precisely because of how many years they knew each other—she didn't want to be his next conquest, his next short-term fling.

But he was close, too close, and when he moved forward, closing the gap, all she could do was close her eyes as she forgot how to breath. As his lips crushed hers. As his hands threaded through her hair, pulling her impossibly closer. The desk pressed against her stomach and his chair scrapped as he tried to get nearer. His hair was softer than she'd thought, she realized idly as she gripped his head back. Her body seemed to have a will of its own, knowing just what to do, where to move.

Finally, running out of breath, he let go, and she sank back into her seat. Her breathing was shallow, rapid, and she stared at him with wide eyes. At least he looked like she did; she didn't know if she could handle being smirked at right now. She watched as he raised a hand to his lips, as he stared from his finger to her, and then back again.

"This isn't a dream, is it?" he asked finally.

"A nightmare, more like," she managed, closing her eyes. "This was a mistake."

"A mistake?" he repeated, and she could hear the undisguised hurt in his voice. "You didn't want it?"

"Of course I—" She cut herself off before she could say anything else. Cracking an eye open, she froze at the frown on his face, the way his shoulders slumped, at how small he looked at her words. Sometimes, she forgot he had a heart.

Sometimes, she forgot that he did actually care about things. About people. About her. For all of their headbutting, he was one of her closest friends and she never knew what that said about her.

"I didn't mean it that way." Sheena sighed, pinching her nose. Some honesty couldn't hurt. Just a little, at least. "I…it was nice…and I…" Oh god, no, she was wrong, honesty could hurt. The words were like taffy in her mouth and she forced them out. "I liked it."

Zelos was caught entirely off-guard and his mouth fell open. "Hhh?" he managed unintelligibly.

Sheena shook her head. "I'm not repeating that."

It was too late. She should have known better than to give him even the smallest indication that she maybe-kinda liked his attention. Zelos bounced back to his usual level of enthusiasm and leaned forward onto the desk. Resting his chin on his hands, he smirked at her. "You liked it."

"I…" She couldn't even tell him to not put words in her mouth, those were the very words and phrasing that she'd said it. Sheena clicked her tongue, sitting back as far as she could in her chair. With a frown, she added, "But that doesn't make it any less of a mistake."

"How so?" he asked and maybe he didn't understand what _mistake_ meant, because his smirk was only growing bigger with every second.

"How is it not?" she growled back, trying not to gesture with her hands because when she did, she'd lean closer, and if she did, they were definitely going to kiss again.

She just knew it.

Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself. "You know how you are with girls. I know how you are with girls. _We both know this is going nowhere._ All this did was make our friendship awkward."

Zelos stared at her unblinking. "Hmmm," he hummed, considering it all. She felt her cheeks redden again at the attention; the way he studied her did dangerous things to her heart. "Right. I see." He sat up now. "But what if that isn't what happened."

"What?" Sheena looked at him owlishly.

"What if I don't act like I do normally?" he said slowly, each word deliberate. "I told you before, I'm serious about you."

"That was teasing," she managed to reply, falling back to her old defenses.

"It wasn't. It never was." He held out a hand, palm up. "I'm serious about you. I always have been."

And for once, she had to admit the honesty of his words. There was no teasing lit, no flowery words. She can't remember the last time she saw him like this, so earnest, so open. Never, really. No, that's not quite right—he'd always been a little vulnerable with her, a little open. Not quite the player he always pretended to be.

Sheena stared at his open hand, at his hopeful eyes, and swallowed. "You're not kidding."

"I'm not," he repeated.

This was a mistake. Sheena was ninety-percent certain about that—she'd known Zelos for years. She knew his moves, what he did, how he left girls.

She took his hand anyways.

Zelos broke into a wide smile and she stared, transfixed. Even if it was a mistake, it was too late. They were always heading here, she'd just been too stubborn to admit it.


End file.
